Canadian Solar Stock Sinks on Earnings and Outlook. The Sector Has Problems.

Revenue of $1.85 billion fell short of estimates of $2.03 billion. Solar module shipments rose 39% in the period.

The company said for the fourth quarter it expects total revenue between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion. Analysts were estimating revenue of $2.65 billion.

The company also said it has $2.6 billion in e-Storage contracted backlog as of Nov. 14. About half of that is expected deliveries for 2024 that are likely to boost margins, aided by a favorable cost environment. E-Storage is Canadian Solar’s utility-scale battery energy storage unit and platform.

“We delivered solid profitability in the third quarter of 2023 with continued progress on our capacity diversification, despite lower-than-expected market-demand growth due to the higher interest-rate environment driving higher inventories in certain markets,” said Chairman and CEO Shawn Qu in the earnings release.

The broader solar industry has been having a tough time lately—largely due to high interest rates, which have made it more challenging for consumers to finance solar installations. This year, Canadian Solar stock has dropped 36%,
Array Technologies
(ARRY) has fallen 23%,
First Solar
(FSLR) has declined 3.1%,
Sunrun
(RUN) was off 56%, and
Enphase Energy
(ENPH) has plummeted 67%.

Canadian Solar stock was down 10% to $18.82 on Tuesday.

Write to Emily Dattilo at [email protected]